Amazon.com

Whatever you do, simply do NOT work for this company...ever!

I was looking for a job that offered benefits and a fulfillment center opened up about 10 miles from my house so I applied. The hours are actually great...6pm-4:30am (Sunday - Wednesday) which works well with my other job as a substitute teacher.

I started the week the plant opened (roughly 3 months ago) and everything was great. I survived the holiday season and had received nothing but positive feedback from my supervisors. in ft, one supervisor let me know that when he needed a cart packed by a certain time, he just brings them to me because he knows I will get it done in time and have zero quality issues.

About 2 weeks we learned that we had new Area Managers and this is when everything went to shit.

I received a written warning at the end of the new manager's first week saying that my rate/quota was bad. It covered the previous 6 weeks and I only failed to make rate once. Still I was "written up." No verbal, no coaching just a written warning that stays in my file for 30 days. If I fail to make rate again this month, then I am out the door.

Naturally I explained to the new AM that this wasn't fair since we had been slow after Christmas and had spent hours (literally) just standing around waiting for orders to be filled. How can one make rate if there is no work to be done? He said this was "no excuse."

Now for the past several days everything is in a constant state of flux. They are moving our stations around, playing with our rate numbers, etc...

Dd I mention they are awful liars, as well? During our stand-up meeting the other night, I asked if we could write a new program into our rate tracker to better give us a sense of where our rate stands when switching between multi-carts. I was told, "I'm sorry...but technology has not come that far yet."

WTF???

Last Thursady night we were required to work an additional 10 hours of overtime. Again, there was not much work so if negatively affected peoples' rates. He is calling for more OT this week.

Why???

by Anonymous

reply 57

05/30/2013

I feel for you, OP. This sounds like what Borders was like toward the end, mutatis mutandis (our impossible metrics had to do with loyalty card signups) and Barnes & Noble now (loyalty card sales, plus impossible Nook tablet sales goals).

by Anonymous

reply 2

02/12/2013

I've heard really bad things about their fulfillment centers, that they are being managed like you've described.

It's no different than Wal-mart or other places, folks - someone's getting the shaft to bring you your item that's $1.50 cheaper.

I'll rather spend the extra buck fifty, give that money to a store in my community and keep my local economy going.....

by Anonymous

reply 3

02/12/2013

Sounds horrendous, OP. You MUST get the fuck out, ASAP.

Is there a site where people who work for amazon can go and post their dissatisfaction? Workingforamazonsucks.com? There must be. Otherwise you could start a Facebook group.

I know there was one for Starbucks.

by Anonymous

reply 4

02/12/2013

For, OP...see link

by Anonymous

reply 5

02/12/2013

[quote]I'll rather spend the extra buck fifty, give that money to a store in my community and keep my local economy going.....

My sentiments, exactly.

by Anonymous

reply 6

02/12/2013

Convinced you'd rather work for Amazon than down a coal mine? Read this first...

by Anonymous

reply 7

02/12/2013

Here's the very long article the link @ R7 was based on.

It will probably interest, poor old, OP...who maybe should have read up a little before he joined amazon.

by Anonymous

reply 8

02/12/2013

[quote] impossible metrics

That's what's fucking wrong with the world: metrics.

I long for the days when I used to just go to work, do my job, and go home. I detest having to quantify every single minute that I spend at my job every day.

by Anonymous

reply 9

02/12/2013

Here in England they make undercover documentaries about this sort of thing all the time.

People love them.

by Anonymous

reply 10

02/12/2013

Check out glassdoor.com I am sure you will find Amazon there. Very telling the experience at different levels in a company or different geographies.

by Anonymous

reply 11

02/12/2013

Sounds like their procedures are in place to ensure that order fulfillment staff don't climb in salaries or benefits or promotion. They provide a constant reminder that staff are expendable and should not think of their work as anything more than static, supplemental income.

by Anonymous

reply 12

02/12/2013

Profiteers have reduced the US to a service economy. There are few good jobs. Bain Capital being the best known example of cutting good US jobs. Your job is to get cheap shit from China to the customer.

by Anonymous

reply 13

02/12/2013

Residents of Robbinsville, New Jersey are getting a tax break thanks to Amazon. Their new distribution center will create $650,000 a year in taxes.

by Anonymous

reply 14

02/12/2013

Companies no longer want people working for them who understand how the business works. Once you get savvy, you can sell information about how the company works and how to sabotage it. So they get rid f people after a while. Especially ones who seem to be "getting it."

by Anonymous

reply 15

02/12/2013

R15= Amy Jellicoe

by Anonymous

reply 16

02/12/2013

I have Amazon Prime but I would rather wait an extra day or two for my order than do business with a company that treats its employees so horribly. I don't understand how they get away with it.

by Anonymous

reply 17

02/12/2013

Actually, I'm guessing the new area manager has an agenda, to replace the previous workers with people from his community.

by Anonymous

reply 18

02/12/2013

It's the new Corporate Capitalism, The Republicant's have blueprinted this scheme and the Democratic side is turning a blind eye in letting it happen.

by Anonymous

reply 19

02/12/2013

It's hardly new. It's an ideology that has been taught in business schools forever. But it is not professional or profitable.

by Anonymous

reply 20

02/12/2013

OP- you, your sister Jackie, Crystal and the rest should all just punch out and walk out that door.

by Anonymous

reply 21

02/12/2013

Interesting, OP.

R1 is worthless trash. So is R21.

This wouldn't be happening if there was a union. Dumb Americans let it happen over the past few decades. They cut their own throats and they've set up their successors for a miserable economic position.

by Anonymous

reply 22

02/12/2013

Here's a link to an article about Amazon's horrendous working conditions in the U.S.

One paragraph says:

"During summer heat waves, Amazon arranged to have paramedics parked in ambulances outside, ready to treat any workers who dehydrated or suffered other forms of heat stress. Those who couldn't quickly cool off and return to work were sent home or taken out in stretchers and wheelchairs and transported to area hospitals. And new applicants were ready to begin work at any time."

Can't provide air conditioning or ventilation, but can provide ambulance service to dispose of workers who collapse on the job.

Such kindness! Such caring! Such goddamned fucking dirtbags!

by Anonymous

reply 23

02/12/2013

[quote]had spent hours (literally) just standing around waiting for orders to be filled.

Then why does it take three days for my order to ship?

by Anonymous

reply 24

02/12/2013

What's wrong with R1?

by Anonymous

reply 25

02/12/2013

You ain't seen nothin my boy.

Try working as an ICU RN, forced to care for 3 critically ill ventilated patients (national nurse-patient ratio is 1 RN to 2 pts), all at once. Cheap ass profit driven hospital management spews crap about maintaining the "highest standard of care" for patients but actually all they want to do is squeeze every bit of profit out of the place, often at the expense of beleaguered nursing staff.

Lives literally at stake. Changing jobs not an option as the market is flooded with new grads in my area. There are nights when I would thankfully fill carts at Amazon, or whatever it is you do OP.

by Anonymous

reply 27

02/12/2013

Yes, R26 -- and there's nothing more pathetic than a closeted Republican who trolls gay discussion boards. In addition to this being true with this thread's R1, it is also applicable of numerous life losers which include the likes of r-3 and r-43 at "It is time for non trade-able jobs to unionize."

by Anonymous

reply 28

02/12/2013

Told my supervisor about these websites at work tonight and he was shocked. He said that he was glad we had air conditioners until I reminded him that we have "cooling units," not conditioning units. Big difference. All has been fine environmentally, but that is because we opened in mid-October and have not experience hot, humid summer days yet.

Found out one of our nightly supervisors is transferring out to day shift next week. Seems the stress is getting to him and he needs a break from it. He was starting to experience chest pains. he didn't announce this to everyone but later told me at my packing station.

Forgot to say earlier that we had an employee die last month. He was in his mid-50s and naturally was chosen to be a "picker." Pickers are the workers who walk on average 14-18 miles per 10 hour shifts. He finished his shift, went home and then keeled over with a massive heart attack. Of course the company attributed it to his age and they were kind enough to provide counseling on hand.

by Anonymous

reply 29

02/13/2013

[quote]That's what's fucking wrong with the world: metrics. I long for the days when I used to just go to work, do my job, and go home. I detest having to quantify every single minute that I spend at my job every day.

Couldn't have said it better. I was working for a company and they installed this timeclock software where we had to allocate a job number to every minute of the day. Of course everyone just made up whatever shit they could, loading the hours onto clients.

by Anonymous

reply 30

02/13/2013

That did it, I am never ordering anything from Amazon.com again! I am sorry you and your colleagues must put up with this bullshit.

by Anonymous

reply 32

02/13/2013

[quote] What's wrong with R1?

He was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.

by Anonymous

reply 33

02/13/2013

They are turning the US into Japan and China where they actually have a word (in both langugages) for dying from work.

by Anonymous

reply 34

02/13/2013

languages

by Anonymous

reply 35

02/13/2013

r27, you speak the truth. I would also add that nurse managers are the spawn of the devil and eat their own. To retain nurses, they create all these titled management jobs and teach them to nit-pick, nag, and spy. The hospitals are full of too many chiefs and not enough indians, funneling all the salary money to the top and requiring that floor staff be bare-bones to make up the difference.

However, I wouldn't worry about the new grads. As an experienced nurse, you'd get picked any day of the week over a green nurse fresh from a shitty diploma mill. It's not like the new ones save them any money--in fact, they cost a hell of a lot to train and their hourly rates are only a couple of dollars cheaper than a seasoned nurse.

Jobs suck everywhere, though. It's only good to change jobs if you just can't stand to look at anyone at the old one anymore. Not-for-profit is mildly better than for-profit, too.

Our parents have no idea how good they had it. It's soul-killing to work in today's America.

by Anonymous

reply 36

02/13/2013

"Our parents have no idea how good they had it. It's soul-killing to work in today's America."

VERY, VERY TRUE!

by Anonymous

reply 37

02/13/2013

Why the hell aren't these stories all over the place in the mainstream media? Why aren't the people working in these conditions organizing? What the hell is wrong with all of us? We here all these stories and all anybody does is bitch about on the internet on FB and DL. That's not going to change anything, you're just preaching to the choir.

These stories are not in the media because the media is sold out to the corporations and the right wing. They wouldn't even think of doing stories on that. But there is always room for something on Lena Dunham or football.

People should be organizing. The rightwing killed the organzing and progressive movement decades ago (remember the "red scare" of the 1950s?). Organizing is not even thought of as a possibility. People are depressed, tired. There is no organizing leadership and no labour movement for those who need it the most.

by Anonymous

reply 40

02/13/2013

[quote]People should be organizing. The rightwing killed the organzing and progressive movement decades ago (remember the "red scare" of the 1950s?).

Remember the red scare of the 1980s? Most of the blame for the current state of labor in this country lies on the shoulders of the Reagan and Bush administrations.

An awful lot of people in this country drank the kool aid. I listen to young people today harp about taxes and the welfare state, regurgitating the pablum their parents were fed 30 years ago, while not really having a clue about what their talking about.

by Anonymous

reply 41

02/13/2013

From another thread:

[quote](32) You

[quote] Charges: You have an opinion on that Twilight slut that cheated on that other Twilight slut, and you’ll share it with anyone who’ll listen. You believe in ghosts, horoscopes, that criminalizing abortion would reduce abortion rates, karma, Fred Thompson’s reverse goddamn mortgages, that Hitler took people’s guns away, that the ATF ran guns into Mexico, and every other dumb-fuck thing because your brain’s an evolutionary mish-mash that’s better at retroactively justifying its near-instant emotional reactions than it is making rational sense of the world. You’re a subconscious brute, largely unaware of your own motivations–an animal automaton programed by biology and society to eschew reason in favor of blind prejudice, tribalism, social climbing, and a perverse ethos that values cowardice and conformity over imagination and the bravery to admit that your entire life is a moot point made by no one at all. And you’re a shitty driver.

[quote]Smoking Gun: Honey Boo Boo.

[quote]Sentence: Honey Boo Boo.

by Anonymous

reply 42

02/13/2013

R31 is a freeper troll, with fantasies of sucking off all the old men in his party. It can also be found having post @ r-41 on the thread about "$9 minimum wage."

by Anonymous

reply 43

02/13/2013

Excellent use of troll-dar, r43. Kisses, doll!!

by Anonymous

reply 44

02/13/2013

Today's news.

[quote]Documentary claims Amazon.com workers in Germany mistreated

by Anonymous

reply 46

02/14/2013

[quote]I'll rather spend the extra buck fifty, give that money to a store in my community and keep my local economy going.....

The local store is looking to make a buck out of you too, don't be fooled. Last time I bought a camera, I went to a local shop first, talked to the guy for 15 minutes and bought what he recommended after telling him about my needs. The camera sucked, and guess what? The store had a no returns policy. My fault for not asking before the purchase, but I got stuck with a camera that didn't do what I needed it to do. Put it up for sale on Amazon marketplace and bought a new one.

by Anonymous

reply 47

02/14/2013

OP here...

I'm still at Amazon. In fact, there are only 4 of us left that started when they opened the place up back in October.

Our managers and ambassadors on a revolving door system. They come and go within weeks. Our equipment is broken and we have to make do with shitty materials/machines. Why they didn't purchase a service plan, none of us can figure out. I have approached HR and the building manager and they called me a liar when I said equipment is shoddy and we are not getting the materials (tape, boxes, etc...) that we need in order to do our jobs.

On the positive side, I do have an interview tomorrow at 2pm for a fulltime teaching job in the Fall. I am super excited as I have been substitute teaching for this high school for the past several years. The Department Chair is even going to join us and she is recommending to the Principal that he hire me.

I seriously hope there is light at the end of this tunnel.

by Anonymous

reply 48

05/30/2013

Good luck, I hope you get the full time job! My friend worked at Bank of America and when they moved to North Carolina (he worked in NYC) they got a new manger who was located in NCand started finding any excuse to fire people. He got fired for misfiring his expense report for some trip he had to take.

by Anonymous

reply 49

05/30/2013

R9 Metrics, agree. And "Coaching." When I read that word, I see a guy who #1 is either very young, or older and has never had a job requiring educ past 6th grade or, #2 Has worked for a woman.

We spend around a hundred thousand bucks to put a kid through 12 years of "school" in this country. See what happens when they take one of the Mexican jobs?

by Anonymous

reply 50

05/30/2013

Go German.

by Anonymous

reply 51

05/30/2013

Don't even know if going on strike is legal in the United States...

by Anonymous

reply 52

05/30/2013

It's always trouble when a report misfires, R49, but I'm glad to hear that the livestock got a new manger.

by Anonymous

reply 53

05/30/2013

I suspected there was more to the story when I realized the OP seemed to be aggressively qualifying what an excellent employee he/she was.

In three months, supervisor giving the OP excellent evaluations and stuff, bringing things to the OP "because he knows I'll get it done"... This could all be true, but it also seems a bit forced.

OP, look for a good job and be a good employee and things will work out.

by Anonymous

reply 54

05/30/2013

No one has said it better than R1.

by Anonymous

reply 55

05/30/2013

[quote]I suspected there was more to the story when I realized the OP seemed to be aggressively qualifying what an excellent employee he/she was.

Well, 4 months later and I'm still working there...

by Anonymous

reply 56

05/30/2013

R22 stabs at her keyboard with diabetes fingers while Mrs. Don Draper walks around her ankles unnoticed, waiting to be fed - if there IS any food.

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